Sizing up Huntsman, Romney, Mormons for president

Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are both Mormons who went to college in Utah and share similar views on taxes and regulation. Both try to appeal to moderates as well as conservatives and they have occasionally broken ranks with Republicans on issues such as global warming and health care. Both of their fathers served briefly in the Nixon administration and they are even distant cousins.

Yet the two presidential contenders for the 2012 Republican nomination also have plenty of differences.

The more soft-spoken Huntsman, who announced his candidacy on Tuesday, is not as sharp-tongued as Romney and is less prone to partisan attacks on opponents. In his announcement speech, Huntsman criticized the lack of civility in political campaigns and said he does not plan to “run down someone’s reputation” to achieve political success. See Huntsman’s presidential announcement speech.

Romney, for his part, has turned more sharply to the right since his failed presidential campaign of 2008. He’s backtracked on a number of issues such as abortion, global warming and health-care reform and made a more concerted effort to win the vote of grassroots conservatives. He blisters the policies of President Obama almost daily.

The two men have also taken very different career paths to get to this point.

Huntsman, 51, grew up in California as the son of a wealthy businessman who founded the global chemical company Huntsman Corp. He dropped out of high school to play keyboard for a rock band but eventually got his diploma. Later he served as missionary in Taiwan and learned to speak Chinese before entering politics as a young assistant in the Reagan White House.

The older Romney, 64, who grew up in Michigan, is the son of a former governor whose family was steeped in politics. After a stint as a missionary in France, he earned degrees at Brigham Young and Harvard University, careful to avoid university strife during the Vietnam era. Romney turned away from politics to build a career as a successful business consultant. He didn’t enter active politics until midlife – nearly 20 years after Huntsman.

As governors – Romney in Massachusetts and Huntsman in Utah – both pushed a pro-business agenda. They cut taxes, balanced the state budget and reduce business regulations.

Working with a conservative Utah legislature, Huntsman was more successful. The local economy boomed and many out-of-state businesses flocked to relocate to his state. Utah was rated the best managed state by the Pew Center on the States during Huntsman’s tenure (2005-2009).

Both men have also angered traditional conservatives. Romney’s support of universal health care in Massachusetts, which included a law requiring citizens to buy insurance, has generated stiff opposition to his candidacy among devout conservatives. Romney also used to support abortion rights before altering his view when he ran for president in 2008.

Huntsman has always taken a strong anti-abortion stance, but he’s angered some conservatives by supporting civil unions – though not marriage – for gay couples. The ex-Utah governor also seemed to express support in a 2007 interview for the idea of requiring citizens to buy health insurance, but Huntsman insists he’s always been opposed.

What’s more, Romney and Huntsman previously indicated support for some measures to combat global warming by more tightly regulating the emission of greenhouse gases. Both have since retreated from those positions, saying the U.S. economy is too weak.

In the current campaign, the two men are expected to promote similar economic themes: the need to cut taxes and regulation, reduce government spending, find ways to boost private investment and improve the U.S. educational system to meet the needs of the modern workforce.

Given his campaign fund-raising prowess and greater name recognition, especially in the key state of New Hampshire, Romney is widely viewed as the Republican frontrunner. Huntsman is still a big unknown nationally, but he has enough personal wealth to stay in the race longer than other Republican candidates.

Huntsman’s success with voters is likely to depend on whether they find his personality and approach to politics more appealing that of the more red-meat style of his distant cousin. Given intense conservative dislike of Obama, a Huntsman candidacy may be a hard sell.

–Jeffry Bartash

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